Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.

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Chapter 5: Family Encounters

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"Would Master and Miss be wanting anything else?" the small house-elf asked Rose and Hugo.

The house elves of the Hogwarts kitchens had happily brought the siblings platters of the breakfast foods that were being served above them in the Great Hall.

"I think it's perfect, Melly. Thank you for the food," Rose kindly told the house-elf. The idea of an entire race of being subservient to wizarding kind made her uncomfortable – a view inherited from her mother – but she also understood that the Hogwarts house-elves were well treated and enjoyed their work.

"If you is needing anything, anything at all, you lets us know," Melly squeaked cheerfully. "We is always happy to help family of Harry Potter and his friends!"

"Thank you," Hugo said as he picked up his goblet and took a long drink.

Considering the task ahead of her, Rose didn't feel much like eating anything, but she didn't want to offend the house elves and disregard their kindness. She selected a piece of toast and spread raspberry jam over it while Hugo piled his plate with poached eggs, a few sausages, and a grilled tomato. Clearly, his appetite was unaffected. Typical teenage boy.

"Hugo," Rose began slowly, "I really am truly sorry that you found out about me and Scorpius the way you did."

Hugo didn't respond, but didn't completely ignore her either. Slightly encouraged, Rose continued.

"That time outside the library, when you warned me away from Scorpius, I wasn't dating him then. I didn't lie to you. We really were just studying. It wasn't until after the Christmas holidays that we…" she felt her ears flush red, "That we admitted how we felt about each other."

Hugo's face was inscrutable as he carefully used his knife and fork to cut off a piece of sausage.

"I'm sorry that I kept that from you. But I'm not going to apologize for dating Scorpius."

At this, Hugo looked up, a flicker of surprise on his face.

"You don't get a say in the boy I date. I don't need your permission."

"That's not –" Hugo started, but Rose cut him off.

"Isn't it?" she challenged him. "You don't want me dating Scorpius because he's a Malfoy, a Slytherin, on a rival Quidditch team. Look at the other relationships around us. Everyone approves of Eva for James. Everyone approves of Richard for Lily. Everyone approves of Olivia for Al if only he'd ever work up the courage to ask her out."

It was as if he didn't approve but he would just grudgingly give permission, and that thought simply infuriated Rose. She didn't need the approval or permission of anyone to date Scorpius Malfoy. She knew her own mind on this matter.

Hugo considered her words. "I don't like the bloke. I can't pretend that I do. But what he said up in the Great Hall, that…it made me respect him a bit."

Rose took a measured sip from her own goblet. "I've been angry because you don't like Scorpius for no good reason other than your own stupid, stubborn prejudices. You've decided that he's not good enough for me without knowing him. Don't you think that hurts me? That's why I'm angry, that's why I'm defensive."

"I can't pretend to like people when I don't."

Rose felt her frustration growing. She glanced at her wristwatch and saw that it was nearly time to leave for Transfiguration.

"Hugo, I'm not asking you to like Scorpius. I'm asking you to respect my decision to date him and not be a massive prat about it." She paused. "We'd better get to lessons before we're late. Just…I don't know if Scorpius and I will work out long-term. I only know that I like him a lot and I'd like to give this a fair shot without my family interfering."

Hugo nodded, his eyes thoughtful. "I reckon I've been a right prat to you."

"Yeah, you have," Rose replied simply.

"I'll think about it," he said wearily.

"Think about what?"

"How I feel about him. About the two of you."

Rose suspected that this was the best she was going to get out of her brother for now. The fact that he had admitted to having been a prat was progress.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Rose was on her way to meet her friend Olivia Longbottom in the library the next morning before breakfast to compare Charms notes when she spotted James leaning against the wall next to the portrait hole, clearly waiting for someone.

"Hi," Rose greeted her cousin, somewhat apprehensively. James hadn't been directly involved in the giant row on the Quidditch pitch, but that didn't mean that he was exactly thrilled about Scorpius Malfoy dating a member of his family. And Scorpius had beaten him at Quidditch, something James didn't take lightly.

"Listen, Rose…" he started a bit haltingly as he spotted her. "I…I'm sorry."

Rose blinked in surprise. She had hoped that he would come around sooner or later –she just hadn't expected it to be this soon.

"You're family," James went on, "You didn't deserve that, the way we reacted about Malfoy – er, Scorpius."

A slow smile was spreading across Rose's face at her cousin's words. What he was saying…it meant so much. She was touched by his genuine apology.

She wanted to say something, to tell him how her words heartened her. But just then Eva came down the stairs and headed towards James. His whole stance seemed to relax at bit at the sight of his girlfriend.

"You two are okay?" Rose asked, noting his reaction to Eva. "You talked?"

James's mouth pulled into a relieved smile. "More than okay."

"I'm glad, James," Rose told him truthfully. She liked Eva very much and was pleased that she and James had been able to work things out between them after their massive row.

"As far as Scorpius goes, I'm never going to be best mates with the bloke, but I won't hex him," James tried to assure her.

"Promise?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow. "Hugo already split his rucksack open yesterday even after we talked over breakfast."

Lily had informed her of that particular incident. Apparently Hugo's justification had been that he was "just testing him to see what he'd do." Rose wasn't sure what to make of that explanation. But if her brother had been hoping to provoke Scorpius into jinxing him, it hadn't worked.

"I promise, Rosie."

Rose nodded and smiled, hearing the sincerity in his voice. "For now, that'll have to be good enough. But I think he'll grow on you," she added just before she turned to exit the portrait hole.

She imaged that behind her back James was making a face, but her steps were considerably lighter as she walked down the corridors to the library.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

"There are some people I'd like you to meet."

Rose looked up from her Charms essay, frowning slightly in confusion. There wasn't a Hogsmeade visit for several weeks, surely he didn't mean…

"My friends," Scorpius clarified, his mouth twitching. "You know, the people I spend time with when I'm not with you."

She felt her ears turn pink at the realization. Of course. His friends. Scorpius had met her friends and family, it only made sense that she would meet the people that were important in his life. It was rather rude, really, that she'd never thought to ask after them.

"Of course," she agreed at once. "Of course, sorry. I'd like to meet your friends, Scorpius."

"Good," Scorpius replied, now grinning fully. "Turn around."

Her eyes widened and she leaned slightly over the table towards him. "Are you taking the mickey?"

"He's not."

Rose turned in her seat to find two people in Slytherin robes standing a short distance behind her. The boy was tall, with black hair and olive toned skin while the girl was short with dark blonde hair and what looked to be purple eyes.

Well, there was no time like the present.

"Hi," she said somewhat weakly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Rose."

"I know," the dark haired boy said. "We've heard quite a lot about you. Gal MacDougal."

"Gal…is that short for something?" Rose asked curiously.

Gal scowled slightly and curtly replied, "Yes."

When Gal failed to elaborate, the girl sighed in annoyance and elbowed him slightly. "It's short for Galahad. Like from the Arthurian legends. As you might have noticed, he doesn't care much for his name. I'm Cecilia by the way. Cecilia Ollerton."

"From the Olletton family that founded the Cleansweep Broom company?" Rose asked, feeling as though she had heard members of her family mention something about the Ollertons at some point. Quidditch was so often discussed that Rose had garnered a fair knowledge of the Quidditch world without really ever meaning to.

"The very same," Cecilia replied, seeming pleased by Rose's recognition of her family heritage. "I see you know your broomsticks. That's good, what with Scorpius being such a big Quidditch star and all."

"There are a lot of Quidditch fanatics in my family, so it's not hard to learn a few things here and there," Rose acknowledged.

"How does it feel to be dating the Seeker that beat James Potter?" Cecelia asked in a teasing tone.

Rose couldn't honestly say that she'd ever thought about it. Her cousin and her boyfriend had faced each other on the pitch before she and Scorpius had first rowed over that book, so it hadn't exactly been on her mind when she started developing feelings for Scorpius.

"Potter's her cousin," Gal pointed out with a slight eye roll. "I doubt Rose has thought it about it in that light."

Cecilia responded with an eye roll of her own. "I just meant that she should be proud of Scorpius."

"That was before we'd even met properly," Rose said, thinking back to the previous term. "At the time I felt sorry for James and Lily, and my friends on the team. But," she said with a smile in her boyfriend's direction, "it's nice to know I'm dating such a talented lad."

Scorpius shook his head slightly. "We've been over this. Me beating James Potter was a fluke and you know it."

"At least it was an advantageous fluke," Gal commented. "We're well placed in the standings to win the Cup."

Cecilia shot him a look of pure exasperation. "You're absolute rubbish at being encouraging, you know that?"

"So I've been told," was Gal's dry reply. "Well, we have some schoolwork to finish. Don't want to bother you."

"You're welcome to study with us," Rose offered. After all that Scorpius had dealt with concerning her family, she felt that spending time with his own friends might be a welcome change for him.

"No thanks," Gal replied with a slight shrug. "We're not looking to intrude."

"Just so you know, Rose, Slytherins are very protective of their own. Be good to my friend." Cecilia's tone was casual, but there was an underlying warning to her words.

"Understood."

Cecilia nodded and smiled. "I thought you would. Nice to meet you."

"You too," Rose told her sincerely.

Gal merely nodded in her direction before turning curtly on his heel and striding away, Cecilia following behind.

"Well," Rose said as she turned back to face Scorpius. "Compared to what my family and friends have put you through, that was absolutely painless."

"You're not afraid that this was part of a nefarious Slytherin plot?" he smirked, grey eyes glinting at her.

Rose rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "You like to think you're some devious Slytherin, but I know you better than that. You're nothing but a soft-hearted romantic."

Scorpius looked downright stunned, and shook his head slightly. "I don't think anyone has ever called me that before. Or any other Slytherin for that matter."

"Well there's a first time for everything."

"I suppose…"

"How did you become friends?" she asked, curious about how three such different people had found each other.

"Gal and I weren't close friends at first, but somewhere in the course of second year we became really good mates. Cecilia became friends with us somewhere around fourth year, actually. She had some kind of falling out with a few of her girl friends and started spending time with us and things just went from there."

"I suspect you three are an interesting lot," Rose observed, thinking of the dynamic between the highly reserved Gal and the cheerful Cecilia.

"It gets even more interesting," Scorpius said with a smirk. "Gal and Cecilia are dating."

Rose stared blankly back at him. "Really?"

"Honestly," Scorpius threw up his hands. "Since last term. That's how I was able to spend so such time studying with you and Al; I felt like a bit of a third wheel around them."

Rose sat back in her chair in surprise, but Scorpius just shrugged. "It probably seems strange from an outside perspective, but they're good for each other. Cecilia helps bring Gal out of his shell a bit and Gal keeps her grounded. They'd been dancing around each other for ages, so I was glad when they finally started going out even if I did feel a tad awkward around them on occasion."

"I'm glad you introduced me to them," Rose told him, reaching across the table and placing a hand over one of his. "Really, I'm relieved you haven't ditched me after everything you've been put through."

Scorpius turned his hand around so their palms were touching, and interlaced their fingers. "I'm not going to break up with you because of your family, Rose. We've been over this."

Rose swallowed thickly. "The way they've treated you…it isn't right and we shouldn't pretend like it is. I've talked with Hugo, James, and Fred and I really think I got through to James and Fred. I thought I'd make progress with Hugo, but then he split your rucksack open in the corridor…."

"I think he was testing me to see how I'd react," Scorpius suggested, and then added slowly, "Rose, I understand why members of your family have been wary of me."

She made to protest but the sad yet determined expression on his face stopped her. He squeezed her hand gently.

"The Malfoy family doesn't exactly…that is, in the past, people in my family have done horrific things. And I wasn't raised that way, but I do come from a family with that history. If I had a sibling, just out of instinct I would worry about them getting involved with someone from a family with that kind of background.

"Growing up," he continued, "there would be times when I'd be out in public with my parents and people would say things to us, like that we were from a family of murderers, or treat us coldly if we were in a shop. It wasn't an every day occurrence, but it did happen."

"I'm so sorry," tears were stinging her eyes now. He was talking about this all so calmly despite how horrible that must have been to endure as a young child.

Rose struggled to imagine what Scorpius had gone through. She had grown up proud of her family and the role they had played in the war. As modest as they were about it, members of her family were considered heroes. She and Scorpius had grown up with starkly different experiences when it came to how society viewed them and their respective families.

"I know it's not right. But I can understand why some people still feel the way they do. Those who lost friends, lost family in the war. My family were Death Eaters and fought with Voldemort and there's nothing I can do change that. When my parents sat me down and told me about our family history, I was devastated…"

He broke off, unsure of how to continue.

"Thank you for telling me," she told him.

"It's true that I don't like the way some of your family has treated me, but others haven't treated me any differently because of my family background. And others have come around."

"I just wish you didn't I have to go through it at all," Rose said softly.

Scorpius hesitated, then said, "If I'm being entirely truthful, I'm hoping my family doesn't drive you away. Not my parents. Well, I don't expect my dad is thrilled, but I don't think he'll forbid it. My paternal grandparents are a whole other story. They still believe in purity of blood. Honestly, I'm not sure I ever want you to meet them."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Rose suggested calmly. "We've made a lot of progress. Almost all of my family here at Hogwarts has come around, and your friends approve. We're not alone in this."

She didn't exactly relish the prospect of ever meeting Scorpius's grandparents, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. There was no sense in worrying about it before it became an issue. They had enough to worry about without overthinking possible future events and scenarios.

Scorpius nodded in understanding. "You're right. Of course you're right."

"It's like you said when this all started," Rose reminded him.

He cocked his head to the side curiously and smirked. "How can you recall exactly what people said ages ago?"

"I believe you would call it being a swot," she grinned at him, thinking back to some of their earliest conversations. "And it was only a few months ago."

"Well, then, what was this astounding piece of wisdom that you've remembered for months?"

"You said, 'let's just take some time to figure out us.'"

"Then I think that's what we should do," he replied, regarding her with an uncharacteristically soft expression. "We're in this together."

Rose smiled at her boyfriend across the table. "Together."

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Rose was expecting several owls to deliver to letters to the Gryffindor breakfast table, but she hadn't anticipated the deluge that arrived that morning. Just as people were tucking into their breakfast fare, the usual loud screech signaled the arrival of the post and what seemed like an entire flock of owls descended on their section of the table.

She stared at the parchment envelope that rested next to her plate. Several of her cousins had received letters as well, a sure sign that all of their parents had met to discuss what had happened. Rationally, she knew that her parents were reasonable, that they had been fighting for equality and that they were not prejudiced people, but still she felt nervous, rational mind forgotten.

Looking around the table, she saw other members of her family examining envelopes of their own. Fred, Roxanne, James, Al, and Lily all had a crisp parchment envelope resting next to their plates.

Lily picked up her letter, then considered James and Fred's. Both boys were still busy eating, putting off the moment they would have to open their respective letters. A thoughtful look crossed Lily's face, as though her mind was working through a puzzle.

Fred picked up a piece of bacon and fed it to the owl, which hooted happily before flying off back the owlrey.

"Oh, Merlin…"

"What?" Lily asked in confusion, but Rose had already spotted what James had noticed. She could have sworn that she felt the blood drain from her face.

"Oh Merlin" didn't even cover it.

James wordlessly pointed down the table to where Hugo was sitting with some of his fourth year friends. A handsome barn owl was sitting in front of him with a bright red envelope clutched tightly in its beak.

"I'd wager an entire years pocket money that's a howler from Aunt Hermione…" Lily breathed.

Rose felt certain that Lily's guess was spot on. Hugo deserved the telling off Rose knew was momentarily coming, but she felt anxious about the Howler's contents. After all, everyone in the Great Hall was going to be witness to this embarrassing scene.

"Oh, Godric, this is going to be bad," James agreed, whistling lowly and shaking his head.

"Bet I can guess the contents of this envelope, then," Fred said gloomily, looking down at his letter.

"At least it's not a -"

James's words were cut off as Hugo bravely decided to open his letter and get it over with. The sound of her mother's voice exploded from the envelope, echoing at an earache inducing volume throughout the Great Hall.

"HUGO ARTHUR WEASLEY! I CANNOT BELIEVE THE LETTERS YOUR FATHER AND I RECEIVED FROM NEVILLE AND PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL! WE ARE BOTH APPALLED AND DEEPLY ASHAMED OF YOUR BEHAVIOR. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? STARTING A FIGHT WITH ANOTHER BOY BECAUSE HE'S DATING YOUR SISTER. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR REASONS WERE - AND IF WE FIND OUT THAT HIS HOUSE OR FAMILY HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR ACTIONS, SO HELP ME - YOUR FATHER AND I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO BEHAVE THIS WAY. YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO SCORPIUS AND TO YOUR SISTER AND WE WILL BE DISCUSSING YOUR BEHAVIOR WHEN YOU COME HOME."

A ringing silence descended on the Great Hall as the envelope burst into flames and burned down to a small pile of ashes in front of Hugo. For his part, Hugo was staring determinedly at his plate, his face stoic, but his ears blazing a familiar red. Rose tried to make eye contact with her brother, but his gaze remained firmly in front of him.

She was well aware that the majority of the students in the Great Hall were looking at the Gryffindor table. The other half was eyeing the Slytherin table where Scorpius was sitting and looking uncharacteristically flustered and red in the face. Low chatter broke out among the students, the topic clearly herself, the Howler, Hugo, and Scorpius. It was lucky that growing up in the Weasley family had prepared Rose for people staring at in her direction.

"Well…" Fred said thoughtfully, breaking the awkward silence. "I think that actually could have been worse."

Eva raised an eyebrow in a quizzical manner that heavily suggested Fred was underestimating what had just occurred. Rose was inclined to agree.

Rose dropped her head into a hand. "You heard what my mum said. They'll be discussing his behavior when summer holiday starts."

Fred grimaced. "That's one discussion I want no part of. Aunt Hermione can be a seriously terrifying woman."

Fred could be a right prat at times, but he was good at cheering her up and adding levity to tense situations. Rose nearly found herself smiling, something she hadn't thought would be happening this morning.

"You have your own letter, remember?" Lily reminded Fred, nodding towards the unopened envelope still lying in front of him. "We all do."

The other letters had been neglected given the scene caused by Hugo's Howler, but now her cousins considered their correspondence from their parents. Al picked up his envelope, studied it carefully, and then stowed it away in his rucksack.

"I'll read it later," Rose suddenly decided, following Al's lead and scooping up her own envelope quickly and shoving it into her shoulder bag. As much as she loved her cousins (when they weren't being massive prats) Rose felt that she would much rather be alone when she read her letter.

James had a troubled look on his face as he regarded his own letter. Then he placed his in his rucksack as well. Eva watched his actions with curious expression.

"Oh, c'mon, you three - especially you, Rosie," Fred teased her. "I want to know what Uncle Ron has to say about you and Malfoy."

"You don't always have to be meddlesome, you know," Rose huffed, feeling non-too pleased with Fred's attempt at poking in his nose in where it didn't belong. Especially right now of all times.

"You'll tell me later, yeah?" Lily asked her with a hopeful expression.

As though Rose would be able to keep something like this from Lily. Aside from Al, she had been one of the most supportive of Rose's relationship with Scorpius.

"Yeah, all right," she sighed in resignation. "What about your letter, Fred?"

"Reckon I'll be spending the summer de-gnoming the garden at the Burrow," Fred sighed as he looked mournfully down at his letter.

"Again," James grinned, brining to mind the number of times the two boys had been assigned de-gnoming at the Burrow as punishment for misdeeds.

"And who was it that had to de-gnome the garden after feeding Al all those cockroach clusters the summer after third year?" Fred asked, pretending to thoughtfully stroke his chin. "Oh right, that was you."

"What's the Burrow?" Eva asked Lily and Rose as Fred and James continued to reminiscence about the multitude of times they had been set the task of de-gnoming the garden.

"It's our Nana and Grandpa Weasley's home," Lily explained cheerily. "We spend a lot of time there during the summer holidays. It's where Mum grew up and Dad really likes it there. Says it's the first place he ever felt part of a family."

"Fred, stop stalling and just open the letter," Rose sighed in exasperation.

"Where would be the fun in that?" Fred replied, but he picked up the letter all the same. Grabbing the butter knife from its place next to his plate, he used it to slit the envelope open. His eyes scanned the parchment quickly.

"Well?" James prompted when Fred looked up.

"De-gnoming," Fred confirmed with a sigh. "And I'll be getting a talking to when I come home. It doesn't sound as though Dad is as cross as Aunt Hermione, though – not surprising - but he said to remember that Scorpius is related to Teddy, and that since the Malfoys will most likely be invited to Teddy and Victoire's wedding that I need to keep myself from attacking Teddys' family. Also that I need to remember that it doesn't matter what house Scorpius is in and that it's Roses life not mine."

Too right, Rose thought to herself. But it seemed as if Fred was really coming around, a fact for which she was grateful.

"I reckon all of ours say something similar," Lily surmised.

Rose doubted Al's said quite the same thing considering his support of her and his budding friendship with Scorpius. Now that she thought of it, Rose really did need to make a point to thank Al.

"It didn't say anything about harmless teasing?" James asked with a hint of a smirk.

"James Sirius Potter," Rose warned in the best stern voice she could muster. Growing up with this lot, she'd had some practice. "Don't you dare!"

"Oh, c'mon, Rosie," James said, fully smirking now. "We just want to test his mettle. Just a bit."

Rose narrowed her eyes in James and Fred's direction. To her satisfaction, the two boys seemed to sit up a little straighter. "In case you hadn't noticed, I happen to like Scorpius very much. Don't you dare try and intimidate him into running as far away from this family as humanly possible."

She didn't want her cousins trying to intentionally drive her boyfriend off even if Scorpius had promised that their behavior wouldn't force him away. He didn't deserve that kind of treatment after everything else he'd been through.

Fred set down his letter and fixed her with a pointed look. "Rosie, if Malfoy ditches you just because you have a pair of prats for cousins and an overprotective younger brother, then he's a plank and you deserve better."

Rose opened her mouth, then closed it again when she couldn't think of anything to say. Her ears and face flushed red and she swallowed thickly.

"We're not going to run him off," James agreed. "Just make sure he can hold his own in this family."

"We're still finding out if you're up to the family standards," Fred pointed the butter knife menacingly at Richard Wood. Richard swallowed heavily and leaned back in his seat.

"Nah," James waved a hand in dismissal. "Al and I picked him out, remember?"

Lily rolled her eyes and Richard looked a bit confused. Rose didn't blame him. He wasn't born into a meddling family.

"Oh, yeah," Fred remembered and abruptly changed his mind about Richard. He set the butter knife down. "All right, you're fine. Just don't go getting too handsy! Understand?"

"Oh, shut up, Fred," Lily retorted, but there was no anger in her voice.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Alone in the sixth year girls' dormitory, Rose pulled the hangings around her bed. She took the letter from her parents from her rucksack and finally opened it. The letter was written in her mother's careful cursive, but was signed by the both of them.

Dear Rosie,

First and foremost, your father and I want you to know that we have no problems with the fact that you're dating Scorpius. We only wish that you had felt that you could confide in us sooner. Once you're home for the summer holidays, we should sit down and talk about this. It sounds as though a lot has happened, and we'd like to know about it all.

From everything you said in your letter, Scorpius sounds like a very nice lad, and we look forward to meeting him. We love you very much, Rose.

Love,

Mum and Dad

Rose slowly let out a long breath. Well…that wasn't bad. It was actually fairly positive.

It was okay.

At least, she hoped it was.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

"So, that's what was in my letter," Rose finished telling her assembled family members. Everyone in Gryffindor House had gathered around the fireplace in the Common Room to share the contents of their letters, if they so chose, and to talk.

"Better than my letter," Hugo rubbed his eyes wearily.

"And whose fault is that?" Lily challenged him.

Al and Lily's letters had been positive, praising them for their support of Rose, and for not judging Scorpius based on his House or family name. James's had been a mixture of censure for his initial reaction, but also approval of how he had altered his mindset and behavior.

"So…what now?" Al asked when no one said anything further.

Al's question went unanswered as Eva Wood suddenly walked through the portrait hole and walked over to where their family group was gathered.

"Well, if this doesn't look suspiciously like meddling, I don't know what does," Eva grinned as she perched herself on the edge of James's armchair. He reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together.

They really were too adorable.

Al shook his head. "Not exactly meddling…we're discussing our letters from home."

"Oh," Eva replied, clearly feeling awkward and realizing that she'd walked into more than she'd anticipated. "I'll just go up to my dormitory, then."

"You can stay, Eva," Rose said with a bit of a shrug. Eva knew just as much as anyone else in the room, so there wasn't much sense of excluding her at this point.

Eva didn't look terribly reassured by this. "I don't to push in where I don't belong."

Fred winked jokingly at Eva. "You're like an honorary family member for now. Until you become real family."

"Real family?" Lily exclaimed with wide eyes. "Is there something you two aren't telling us?"

"No!" James and Eva yelled at practically the same moment. Eva's blue eyes were wide as saucers, which was rather amusing.

"Oh," Lily responded, actually seeming disappointed even though James and Eva were much too young to be thinking that far in the future. Rose fought down a smile.

"Anyway," Roxanne said, turning to Eva in order to fill her in, "All of the Gryffindor family members received letters from our parents concerning Rose and Malfoy; reminding us about what we've been taught about other Houses and blood status and to judge people on their own merits. They were glad that not all of us were in on the fight with Malfoy and the Slytherin team, but they just wanted to remind us not to be hard on Malfoy because of his House or his family."

"His name is Scorpius," Rose stated firmly. "He's more than his last name."

It was high time that all of her family members referred to her boyfriend by his Christian name rather than his surname.

"Sorry," Roxanne said with the slightest trace of sarcasm in her voice. "It's just force of habit."

Rose tried hard not to grit her teeth. "Well, unlearn it, then."

"Don't take this out on me!"

"What are you even fighting over?" Fred asked, puzzled. "Your parents said they didn't mind, Rose."

Rose sighed heavily at this statement. "Not minding isn't the same thing as accepting it. And they said they wanted to sit down with me and talk about it when I come home for the summer holidays."

Her elation over the letter from her parents had faded somewhat the more she re-read it and thought about it. Was everything really okay? Or had she been too quick to be hopeful?

"Rose," Lily leaned over and wrapped an arm around Rose's shoulder, "I know Uncle Ron can be a bit…stubborn. But he's not completely unreasonable and you know he listens to Aunt Hermione. I'm sure it was just a shock for both of them given their past with the Malfoys."

Logically, Rose knew all of this. She did. It was what she had been telling herself since she had opened the letter from her mum and dad. But worry and anxiety of this sort were rarely, if ever, rational.

"I can understand why they're wary…" she admitted, thinking about her recent discussion with Scorpius, "But I can't help but worry that they won't be able to look past Scorpius's family history. Scorpius looks uncannily like his dad – what if they can't look at him without seeing Mr. Malfoy and being reminded of everything that happened when they were at school and during the war?"

"I'll talk with them," Al offered. "I'll tell them about how I've studied with you two sometimes and how I've got to know him."

"I can tell them about that morning at breakfast when we were all chatting and how he was quiet, but nice enough," Roxanne chimed in.

"Me too."

Everyone turned to look at Hugo. His ears flushed a bright red at the sudden attention.

"Hugo?" she asked, absolutely stunned. Hugo was offering to stand up for her? To stand up for Scorpius?

"Remember that morning, when he told me that it didn't matter what I did? That it wouldn't change how he felt about you?"

Rose nodded, a small smile working its way onto her face at the memory of the particular moment.

"You're my sister," Hugo said slowly. "I'm not sure that I trust him, but I do trust you."

She nodded. "I just…I want you all to accept Scorpius. We've been over this – he's his own person."

"We don't even know him," James pointed out frankly.

"Exactly. And I'm worried that you don't want to," Rose confessed what had been on her mind for a while now. "We had to have our parents step in to get us to sit down and talk about this."

James's brow furrowed in confusion. "We talked, you and me."

"And that girls' night," Roxanne put in. "We discussed it a bit, then."

Hugo nodded in agreement. "And after the Quidditch match."

"All of us," Rose waved her arms around to suggest the entire family. "Together. We always talk about things. I've lost count of the number of times we all talked about Eva and James. But we didn't sit down and talk about this. And this…this is important to me."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the assembled group. Then, quite to Rose's surprise, it was Fred who spoke up.

"Sorry, Rosie. I reckon…after our talk after the match, I didn't know what else to say…"

"I saw you two together - I had suspicions about you two and I had time to get to know Scorpius," Al reminded Rose kindly. "The others haven't. But you can have him over during summer holiday and let everyone have the chance to get to know him."

Rose was certain that she paled at the thought of Scorpius surrounded by her entire family, but then she recalled what she had told him about not worrying about events too far in the future. "You're right. Thanks, Al."

"Sure!" Fred said gleefully. "And then we'll test his mettle, just like we talked about at breakfast."

Rose sighed and shot Fred a glare intended to convey what she thought about that suggestion.

"Too soon?" Fred asked sheepishly. "Well, it's like I said, Rosie. If being around our family runs him off, then you deserve better."

"Here, here!" Hugo agreed heartily.

"You know we'd do this to anyone you were dating, yeah?" James asked Rose, looking her levelly in the eyes. "I mean, I don't like that Mal – Scorpius is on the Slytherin Quidditch team and I hate it that he caught the Snitch before me. The Slytherins have always been our biggest rivals and I thought he was off snogging that cow Rinaldi, so it wasn't like I could think well of him, now could I? But I wouldn't like it if he was on the Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw teams and had beaten me either."

"How come you lot aren't constantly testing my mettle?" Eva suddenly spoke up. Rose supposed that Eva was trying to talk the boys out of teasing Scorpius, but she also knew that that plan was futile.

"Oh, but we are, Eva Louise," Fred laughed, using his utterly ludicrous nickname for Eva.

"You're sitting here, aren't you?" Lily smiled knowingly. "Even though the look on your face says you'd dearly love to be anywhere else."

"You put up with being called Eva Louise," Fred joked. "Also, you didn't strangle me that time James and I put hair dye in your shampoo bottle."

Ha, Rose had forgotten that incident. That had been a laugh, not that she would ever tell Eva so.

"You're still going out with James even though you know how meddlesome and nosy we all are," he continued. "You even know we were meddling in your life. You had a few good opportunities before you two were dating to be run off by us, but you stuck around."

"Besides, we knew you before you and James were you and James," Lily added. "You knew Fred and Roxanne and Al and me."

"The rest of us will get to know Scorpius," James promised Rose in a tone of true sincerity. "And then we'll make our judgments. Er…our proper judgments."

Rose suddenly found her eyes becoming a bit misty and she blinked a few times to keep any tears back. Even though they were happy tears, she didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

"We're completely mad, but I love our family," she told the people sitting around her. Even if they could be massive prats sometimes.

"We are pretty awesome," Fred grinned. "I mean, any group that involves me is bound to be ace."

Roxanne reached out and pushed Fred off his chair while everyone laughed, even Fred.

Rose could hardly believe the progress that had been made. Hugo – Hugo of all people – had promised to speak to their parents about Scorpius's good qualities. Her brother was still a stubborn prat and too quick to judge people, but he seemed willing to get to know Scorpius and that was the best thing she have hoped for.

It really was going to be okay.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

"We've faced the biggest hurdles already," Rose assured Scorpius. He had been nervous the entire train trip back to London. "After all, we have Hugo on our side now. He's even written to Mum and Dad like he promised. And he hasn't split your rucksack open in ages."

Scorpius nodded and swallowed a bit thickly, but didn't say anything.

"You're doing that thing where you retreat into yourself and don't let anyone see your emotions," she informed him gently.

That comment seemed to snap Scorpius out of his closed expression.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled apologetically. "I'm just incredibly nervous. This is rather important after all. I want your parents to like me."

He bit his lip in a way that Rose found extremely distracting, but now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things.

"We're in this together," Rose told him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He returned the pressure more firmly than usual, practically gripping her hand.

"Good luck," Hugo said as he passed them on his way to exit the train. Then he turned around and added, "And that wasn't sarcastic. Really, good luck."

Rose smiled warmly at her brother. He really had come a long way. "Thanks, Hugo."

She turned to Scorpius. "C'mon. We have to leave the train now."

It was difficult to tell considering the fairness of his skin, but it seemed as though Scorpius paled slightly.

Rose's heart was racing as they neared her parents, but she took a few deep breaths. She had to stay calm and assured for Scorpius's sake. If she completely fell apart, that might just send him into a nervous breakdown.

Her parents were greeting Hugo, each giving him a hug as Rose and Scorpius came face to face with them.

There was a moment's pause and then her dad smiled at her, nothing false or strained. Just his usual grin reserved for his children. "Good to have you home, Rosie," he said and reached out to hug her.

"Hi, Dad," she replied, burrowing into his arms as she did when she was young. He pressed a loving kiss to her hair.

"You must be Scorpius. It's so good to finally meet you," her mum said and warmly held out a hand for Scorpius to shake.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Granger-Weasley." Scorpius's voice was a bit stiff from nerves. She hoped her parents didn't perceive it as rudeness.

Then, as Rose had been calling it in her head, it was the moment of truth. Her dad turned to face Scorpius fully and held out a hand. "Ron Weasley."

Scorpius looked even paler than he had on the train. He took her dad's hand and shook it firmly. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Weasley."

"You too, Scorpius," he dad responded without any hint of suspicion or anger in his voice.

Rose nearly sagged in relief. It really was going to be okay. This was going so well, Rose couldn't believe that she had been so anxious only a few short minutes ago.

"We've heard a lot about you," her dad continued. "No worries, all good things. My nieces and nephews seem to think highly of you, and even Hugo seems to be warming up to you."

"That's good," Scorpius replied, almost to himself. "I know family's important to Rose."

"You'll have to come and visit us sometime over the holiday," her mum offered. "We'd love the chance to get to know you more, Scorpius."

He nodded, his nerves seeming to return a bit. "That would be nice. Thank you. I'd better be getting to my own parents. It was nice to meet you."

Rose wondered exactly how many times Scorpius had used the word 'nice' in the span of the last five minutes. It was definitely a sign of nerves.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then," Rose told him. "I'll write."

She wanted to kiss Scorpius goodbye, but she knew there was no way on Earth that Scorpius was going to kiss her with her parents and brother present. She didn't exactly relish the thought of kissing a boy in front of her parents anyway. Rose wished that she had thought to kiss him goodbye on the train after everyone had left the compartment.

"Me too. Bye, Rose," he smiled down at her, relief clearly written all across his face. He leaned down slowly and pulled her into a quick hug.

As he released her, Rose made a spur-of-the-moment decision and pulled him in closer once more. Pushing up onto her tiptoes, she pressed her lips firmly against his cheek.

Her parents looked a bit surprised by her forwardness, but not half as surprised as Scorpius.

"Bye," she grinned widely at him.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~

"Well all Os on your exams?" her dad asked after the dishes had been cleared away after dinner that night.

Scorpius hadn't been discussed much yet. Just a few comments that he seemed like a polite young man, and that they would talk more after dinner. That time was here, but the subject had yet to be broached.

Rose smiled widely and nodded happily. "All Os," she reported proudly. "I was worried about my Charms exam. I thought maybe I had made my cheering charm too strong, but it turned out well. And then I thought that maybe in my Defense essay that I hadn't written enough about patronuses, but thankfully two rolls of parchment was more than enough."

Her marks were both a source of pride and amusement to her father. He was fond of telling her how much like her mum she was, but sometimes teasingly deplored the fact that she didn't have enough fun during lessons. Her mum always interjected here, saying that lessons were useful and about learning, not playing games such as hangman and naughts and crosses in textbooks (apparently a favorite pastime of her dad and Uncle Harry).

"Two rolls of parchment?" Hugo asked in astonishment, eyes wide. "You didn't think that would be enough?"

"It's a broad topic!" Rose defended herself. Hugo was every bit as academically gifted as she was, he just chose not to put as much effort into his schoolwork as she did. "There's loads of —-"

"I don't want to talk about schoolwork over the summer holiday until I have to, thanks," Hugo made a face and got up from the table. "I'm going outside."

"Well," her mum began, giving her father an encouraging look. "Ron?"

Her dad looked extremely out of his element. Rose knew that he hadn't ever expected to have a conversation with her about a boyfriend quite like this.

"How did…how did you even…how did this all start, then?" he finally managed.

Rose couldn't help but smile at this. "It started in the library," she told her parents. "We both needed the same book for an essay."

"This started over books?" Ron repeated incredulously. "You really are your mother's daughter, Rosie."

"I know you don't like it, but –" Rose started, but her dad shook his head.

"I don't like Draco Malfoy," Ron corrected her. "And I never will. But from everything you and Hugo and your cousins have said, Scorpius isn't anything like Draco was at that age. I want you to be happy, Rosie. Besides, I refuse to be the one who's against this. I'd rather it be Malfoy. Draco, that is."

"Oh, Dad," Rose sniffed, and fairly threw herself into his arms. He caught her as he always did, his arms safe and warm.

She had spent so much time agonizing over the reactions of her parents, and the fact that they seemed to be taking this in stride meant more to her than she could express to them. Now her worry was that she had misjudged her parents and assumed the worst of them, particularly her dad.

Rose heard her mum give a few sniffs of her own as she witnessed the tender scene between father and daughter.

"Thank you," Rose said gratefully. "Thank you so much."

"Just because you're dating this boy doesn't mean that everything has changed," Ron told her with a grin. "What did I tell you all those years ago? You still need to beat him on every test, Rosie."

Her mum rolled her eyes. "Ron, I think we're past that."

"I can hold my own," Rose smiled widely. "Don't you worry."

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Dear Scorpius,

Everything is brilliant. My talk with my parents went amazingly well and I'm feeling on top of the world. I want to run outside and do cartwheels and yell and laugh out loud with happiness. When we first started dating, I was worried that my family would never accept you. Now look at us.

Do you want to meet at Fortescue's, Thursday next? Around 1:30?

Love from,

Rose

P.S. The first time I ever saw you on Platform 9 ¾, my dad told me that I was supposed to beat you on every exam. Apparently this still holds true.

The End

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Thanks for reading everyone! Many thanks to my beta, blue and gold, for the helpful suggestions and fabulous beta abilities.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!